Such semiconductor lasers are disclosed for example in the article M. Kuznetsov et al., “Design and Characteristics of High-Power (>0.5 W CW) Diode-Pumped Vertical-External-Cavity Surface-Emitting Semiconductor Lasers with Circular TEM00 Beams”, IEEE J. Selected Topics Quantum Electron., Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 561–573, 1999.
These VECSELs enable a high continuous wave radiation power into the watts range with a good beam quality. However, during high-power continuous wave operation, the problem arises of efficiently dissipating from the component the heat loss generated for example by nonradiative recombinations.
For this purpose, the optically pumped VECSEL described by Kuznetsov et al. is mounted on a diamond heat sink having a high thermal conductivity. Since the growth substrate substantially contributes to the thermal impedance of the component, it is preferably removed and the VECSEL is applied to the heat sink directly with the mirror layers.
However, this procedure necessitates an upside-down mounting of the component. In addition, when the growth substrate is removed, there is the risk of the component being fractured.